


Captain's Love, Crew's Loyalty

by Swimly



Category: One Piece
Genre: Are any of them in love?, Could be read as no ships or literally every ship involving Luffy, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Monkey D. Luffy Loves His Friends, Nakamaship, One Shot Collection, Platonic Hand Holding, Platonic Kissing, Post-Time Skip, Tenderness, You decide., largely canon compliant, trauma/recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-21 19:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30026712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swimly/pseuds/Swimly
Summary: A collection of short, tender moments between Luffy and his crew after the timeskip. Tags added as needed.Done: Usopp, Nami, RobinTo Do (in no particular order): Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Brook, Franky, Jinbe, and bonus non-strawhats Law, Barto, & Sabo.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	1. Home (Usopp)

**Author's Note:**

> First is Usopp, who just needs a hug from his Captain.

The first time Usopp saw Luffy after two long years, saw the enormous scar on his chest, the reality of the situation hit him. Hard. He had been separated, with no contact, from all his friends and his Captain for _far_ too long. From the moment he learned what had happened to Ace, and had learned Luffy had been there, had held Ace in his arms as he died, he knew things would be permanently different. Seeing Luffy in the flesh now, finally, after all this time, solidified what had, until then, been an ethereal vibration in Usopp’s soul. He desperately needed to _see_ his Captain. To feel his physical form. To make sure he was alright. There was an electric air around Luffy. A disquieting uneasiness. Something unspoken but vital to be heard.

Once the whole crew had made it safely to the Sunny, Usopp took the opportunity to seize his Captain before the action inevitably picked up. There was conflict on Sabaody, certainly made worse by the presence of the ever-troublesome Strawhats, and Usopp didn’t know when there would be a truly quiet moment. This brief reprieve on the Sunny, when everyone was joking and catching up, might be his only chance for a long time. As casually as he could manage, Usopp pulled up behind Luffy who was sitting cross-legged on the deck, fawning starry-eyed over Franky’s new robo-accessories. It took all of Usopp’s willpower not to join in. Franky was very, _very_ cool. Instead, he took a deep breath and leaned down, whispering in Luffy’s ear.   
  


“Captain,”

Luffy immediately perked to attention, undoubtedly remembering Usopp only called him Captain when he wasn’t playing around.

“Can we talk? In the aquarium?” Usopp had peeked into the room earlier and found it empty. He wanted a private spot to avoid prying eyes. He had a feeling he’d be getting emotional.

“...Sure.” Luffy responded, curious.

Luffy walked casually to the aquarium, as one would expect given it was _his_ ship. Usopp was… admittedly less casual about it, hugging walls and eyeballing the positions of his crewmates, making certain he wasn’t followed. When he finally ducked into the aquarium, silently shutting the door behind him and locking it, he found Luffy standing smack in the middle, head cocked to the side.  
  
“Is everything okay, Usopp? You’re acting strange.” His hands were on his hips, the ruffles of his sleeves falling off his elbows like curtains. The change in his usual wardrobe wasn’t drastic, but Usopp did think the added fanciness moved Luffy a notch or two closer to Captain than cabin boy.

Usopp closed the space between them enough to tentatively, gently, place his hands on Luffy’s shoulders. The contact, the firm curve of Luffy’s shoulders under his palms, instantly calmed an anxiety that Usopp hadn’t realized he’d lost control of. Luffy was there. He was home on the Sunny. _His Captain was home._

Immediately, his throat was tight, tears creeping up and blurring his vision.

“C-Captain…” was all Usopp could manage. He wasn’t sure what else he wanted to say. Everything, really. And also nothing. But also something very specific he couldn’t find the words for.

Luffy’s arms dropped and he huffed a sigh that sounded almost wistful, “Ahh… yeah.” He grinned wide, seeming to understand what Usopp was feeling, a blessing Usopp was eternally grateful for. His hands were shaking hard against Luffy’s shoulders. He wanted to move, but also didn’t want to break the spell of knowing for certain his best friend, his Captain, was with him. 

Luckily, Luffy made the call for him. He reached up and pulled Usopp into a tight hug, one arm around his back and the other around his head, fingers tangled in Usopp’s unruly hair. He held Usopp so tightly, squeezing out all the space between them, that Usopp was genuinely struggling to breathe. He couldn’t possibly care less. He mimicked Luffy’s hold on him, burying his face into Luffy’s shoulder and not even trying to keep from crying freely. After a moment, he could tell by the rise and fall of Luffy’s back that he was crying too. It only made Usopp pull him closer, tighter, trying desperately to press all of his emotions into his friend, to _tell_ him. Without really meaning to, he let his thoughts spill freely from his lips into the curve of Luffy’s neck. 

“I’ve missed you. I’m sorry about Ace. I’m sorry about _everything_ . I’m stronger for you, now. I’ll be better, more useful-” 

  
Luffy pulls back suddenly, hands on either side of Usopp’s face. The movement is so unexpected, it stuns him to silence. With tear-reddened eyes, Luffy stares steely and deadly seriously into Usopp’s whole being. “Usopp, you have _always_ been useful. You are my sniper. _Mine._ ”

  
The conviction in Luffy’s voice brought fresh tears to Usopp’s eyes.

“I know you’re stronger now,” Luffy continues, “and I’m glad for that. I hope it means you can trust yourself the way I trust you.”

Usopp nods weakly, his Captain’s palms warm on his face, “Y-Yeah…”

“I’m glad you brought me in here, I had something I wanted to say, too.” He grinned again and gently pressed their foreheads together, their noses touching. “Thank you for coming back.”

Usopp froze. He was a coward, he knew that. He was a coward and a quitter and a liar. But in all his time with Luffy, with the exception of the Merry incident, never once had he considered leaving his Captain and crewmates. And in the two years on Boin Archipelago, the idea that he wouldn’t return to Luffy never once crossed his mind. 

He pulled back, now taking his turn to look Luffy in the eyes, “Luffy, did- did you really think I wouldn’t come back? Did you think I was that much of a coward?” To think Luffy could consider Usopp wouldn’t come back hurt in an indescribable way.

Luffy smiled and shook his head. “No, I _knew_ you’d come back. But you had the choice not to. Everyone did. So it means a lot to me that you’re all here.”

“You… knew?” In reality, to an outsider, the notion that Usopp might cut and run if given the chance wasn’t an unfair character assumption. But Luffy never lied, and no matter how unfailingly candid he was about his feelings, it was never any less impactful when he laid bare how fully he trusted his crew.

Luffy’s grin widened as he hissed a laugh through his teeth, “Yeah! Usopp is the future Pirate King's number one sniper! He’d never leave!”

“Yeah.” Usopp grinned in return, never in his life happier to have the trust of another person; Trust placed not in a lie, trick, or facade of Usopp’s making, but in Usopp himself. The unwavering trust of his Captain, no less; A man Usopp fully believed was the most powerful human being on the planet. The expectation he felt he should live up to loomed above him, a towering spire of the man Usopp needed to be for his Captain. He was proud and terrified-

Luffy pulled him into another firm hug, this time keeping one hand on Usopp’s face and reaching up slightly to press a kiss to his temple. “I’ll never let the crew get separated like that again. You’ll never be without your Nakama, Usopp. And you’ll never be without me. Never.”

-and just like that, the spire of expectation was gone and Usopp felt like a child coming home after a terrible day.

  
Luffy left the aquarium and the moment the door shut behind him, Usopp dropped to his knees and sobbed, relief pouring from his soul. His Captain _was_ home. But true to form, Luffy said what Usopp _really_ needed to hear: _Usopp was here. Usopp was back on the Sunny with his Nakama. Usopp was home._


	2. Maps (Nami)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy and Nami hang out in the library doing some cartography together.

“Oh, Nami! I found you!”  
  
Nami looked up from her work to see Luffy poking his head into the library from the ladder. She was a little miffed to be interrupted but was never _too_ upset to see her Captain, no matter how busy she was.

“Hi Luffy. What’s up?”  
  
Luffy vaulted himself through the hatch and landed in the library, light and easy. He grinned, hands in his pockets, “I haven’t seen you all day!”

It was a true statement. Somehow, Nami had largely, though inadvertently, sidestepped her Captain the entire day. The sun was setting and this was the first she’d seen him. The unspoken statement, Nami understood, was that Luffy needed to check on every member of his crew every day. One on one. If he didn’t see you during the natural course of things, he would come to find you. She’d known this about him very early on, almost as soon as she joined the crew. He would sit with Zoro while he trained, chat with Usopp while he fished, and lately he’d been joining Robin while she tended her little garden. Every day he’d spend a few minutes alone with each of the crew members, giving them his undivided attention. He never outright said that’s what he was doing, but he never tried to hide it either. Not that he could. His love, concern, and interest in his Nakama was a thick, tangible air that hung over the ship, the same way the scent of Sanji’s cooking or lull of Brook’s music would linger languidly on the deck and weave through the sails.

“I’ve been updating some maps,” Nami offered with a smile as an explanation, “I didn’t have full details on Fishman Island until recently.”

“Mm!” Luffy nodded and crossed the room to peek over her shoulder at her work. He was uncharacteristically calm. Typically, Nami had to fight to keep his greasy fingers off her maps. He was always trying to touch them or hold them up to the light, careless of whatever sauce, dirt, or bodily fluid was on his hands. But this time, though he was close enough to Nami’s seat that she could feel him breathing behind her, he kept his hands in his pockets and scanned the map she’d been working on from a safe, almost respectable distance. _Something was up._

Nami eyed him suspiciously, but kept her tone light and unaccusatory, “Everything okay?”

“Mm,” he repeated, still scanning the map intently, almost as if trying to memorize it, “I just like looking at your maps. They’re really good.” A simple statement. It wasn’t that Nami didn’t appreciate her Captain’s words, he was just so unnaturally calm about saying it.

They sat in silence for a moment, Luffy looking at the map, Nami looking at Luffy.

"Oi, Nami,” Luffy said finally, still lingering on the map for a moment before meeting her eyes, “have I told you about the island I trained on with Reyleigh? Rusukaina?”

Nami was taken aback, confused. “Yeah, you talk about it all the time.”

“Sure, about the monsters and the training and stuff. But I haven’t told you where it is or what it looks like, have I? For you to add to your maps?” He grinned and sat on the floor by the desk.

“N-no, you haven’t.” She was a little confounded by the whole situation. Why would she have asked? It’s not like she expected him to remember enough about it for her to start building a map from. She just assumed she’d get the chance to see it for herself eventually.

“I wanna tell you!” Luffy said, head tilted and face happy as the day is long.

“Okay, sure,” Nami leaned back in her seat and turned more to face him. “How much do you remember?”

Luffy puffed his chest out, proud. “A lot! Almost everything! I memorized it for you!” 

Nami couldn’t help but laugh, “You what? Memorized it?”

“Yeah!” Luffy pulled his hat from around his neck, stretched his arm up, and dropped it on Nami’s head. “Every day I made sure to memorize something new about it. I wanted to be able to tell you all about it when I saw you again.” His arm snapped back in place and he leaned back on his hands. “I have two whole years of stuff saved up to tell you.”

“Every… you did that every day? For me?” Luffy thought to learn something for her every day for two years, just so she could make a map of a place she’s never been? She reached up and thumbed at the brim of the straw hat, remembering all too well the day he first placed it upon her head, claiming her as a member of his crew.

“Yeah! I can start by telling you where it is.” He scrunched up his nose, and looked off to the side, working to recall this knowledge that Nami couldn’t possibly imagine would be accurate. “It only took about eight hours to get to Rusukaina from Amazon Lily on Hancock’s ship, and we were sailing at about 5 knots, so…” Luffy held up his fingers and did some counting, "Rusukaina is about 45 nautical miles northwest of Amazon Lily.” He smiled up at Nami proudly.

“What?!” Nami was awestruck, “You remember that?”

Luffy seemed confused and cocked his head to the side, “Yeah, I told you, I memorized something new every day so you can make a map.”

Fair enough, he _did_ say that. And Luffy is always true to his word. “Alright,” Nami smiled and pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, the guidelines preemptively made, and penciled in the top corner, _‘Rusukaina.’_ “Tell me all about it.”

For the next couple of hours, Luffy produced a seemingly endless string of facts, measures of distance, descriptions of landmarks, even a complete list of all 48 seasons and what they were like. Nami listened intently, taking notes on a scrap sheet of paper and then implementing them as she lightly sketched out a loose map of the island. Occasionally Luffy would peek over and comment on it or offer a correction, and the whole time would pepper in brief tales of monsters he’d slain or befriended. He even offered his own names for landmarks he’d made note of, most of which were far sillier than anyone would ever actually name a geological feature. Nami wrote them into the map anyway. After a while, the two had produced a strikingly solid first draft of a map of Rusukaina. Only a few spots were left blank due to Luffy’s memory being foggy or him having not spent much time in the area. When they were both satisfied, and Luffy’s stomach began growling, Nami stood, stretched, and plopped the straw hat back onto Luffy’s head.  
  
“Let’s go get Sanji to make us a late-night snack, hm?” She grinned at him and offered a hand to help him to his feet.

“Yeah!” Luffy nodded, took the offered hand, and pulled himself up, but didn’t let go. Instead, he took her other hand in his as well. She looked down at them, struck by the intimacy of the action.

“Nami,” he said quietly, “thanks for making the map. It’s nice to see the island again.” He grinned at her and gave her hands a light squeeze.

“Sure… no problem.” This entire evening had been bewildering. It was rare, but not unheard of to have these calmer moments with the future King of Pirates. They typically happen just infrequently enough that they always come as a surprise, at least for Nami.

“We’ll go together someday so we can finish it, okay?”

“Yeah,” She smiled, “Can’t wait!”

Luffy huffed a laugh and pulled her into a tight hug, lingering quite a bit longer than she was used to from him. He frequently offered hugs to the more jovial boys of the group, but far less often to her and Robin. She wasn’t terribly used to physical affection from Luffy. Attention and praise, certainly. Concern and care, always. But _this_ was a very infrequent occurrence. She hugged him tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder. 

After another moment, he pulled away, “Now let’s go find Sanji!” And just like that, he bounded away, down the hatch and off to plunder the ship of its cook for his own personal gain.

Nami chuckled and followed after him.

“You got it, Captain.”


	3. Heavy (Robin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin offers her company to Luffy in a moment of grief.

It was only by chance Robin happened to see Luffy leaning on the railing outside the library.

She was finishing an evening bath and happened to glance out the window to see, a little ways below, the top of the straw hat. It was strange for him to be alone at the back of the ship. Typically, if Luffy wanted alone time, it was atop the figurehead. At first, she thought perhaps he was fishing, but he didn’t have a pole. Then Sanji came into view from around the library walkway. He was carrying a small fold-out table and a bottle. Not one to be above a little eavesdropping, she sat on the edge of the draining tub and formed a duplicate ear on the wall outside, just above the natural eye-line of the chef and their Captain.

“Oi, Luffy, it took a while but I found it. Might’ve been easier if you’d asked earlier in the day. Most of the shops are closed now.” Sanji sounded annoyed, but then suddenly seemed to soften as he neared the Captain, “Everything okay? I’ve never known you to drink sake often.” He propped up the little table at Luffy’s right side and gently set the bottle down.

Luffy didn’t immediately respond, his gaze fixed on the sea.

Sanji didn’t pry but also didn’t move to leave.

Eventually, Luffy turned and smiled at him, “Thanks, Sanji! Sorry to ask you for a favor like this so late at night. I just saw it in town earlier and thought it looked really good. Thanks for bringing it all the way up here.” He was clearly trying to be light and upbeat, but there was an unmistakable sadness in his tone.

“Better here than the figurehead.” More than one expensive bottle of alcohol had been lost overboard the Sunny’s mane. Sanji lit a fresh cigarette and took a drag. “Want some company, Captain? Or would you rather be alone?”

After a moment of thought, Luffy replied, “I’m good on my own for now. But let’s drink together later!” He smiled again, the sadness still present.

“Aye, Captain.” Sanji smiled in return, soft and understanding. He seemed to sense the sadness as well. Sanji always was more perceptive than the crew believed. Robin was the only one he was never able to fool, though she was happy to let Sanji believe he had a perfect record. “Let me pour for you though. Tradition and all that.” He procured a small blue cup from an inner jacket pocket.   


  
“Sure.” Luffy turned back to face the sea.

Sanji carefully opened the sake bottle and filled the little cup. He left the bottle open on the table. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.” He reached out to place his hand on Luffy’s shoulder but froze a few inches away. Luffy didn’t seem to notice, staring at the deepening horizon as if waiting for it to speak.

“Mm,” was all the Captain offered.

Sanji abandoned his attempt at physical affection and instead quietly made his way back to the kitchen. Robin lingered a moment longer, but when it was clear there wasn’t going to be anything else to hear, she released her duplicate ear and got dressed. Luffy had said he was fine alone, and if he asked her to leave, she certainly would, but Robin was deeply curious to see what was eating the young man. He was clearly feeling off, and Robin prided herself on being the member of the crew that invaded sadness-prompted alone time. Purely for the purposes of cheering up her crewmates, of course.

After a few minutes, she was peeking around the curve of the library wall to see if Luffy was still at the railing. He was exactly as Sanji left him, sake cup untouched. His gaze was no longer fixed forward, however. Instead, his head was ducked low. His body language seemed deeply tired.

Robin rounded the curve of the walkway and stepped up to Luffy’s left, leaning forward on the railing. When he didn’t react, she edged her arm just close enough to brush his. “Captain?”

Luffy’s head popped up, almost like he’d been asleep. “Oh, Robin! Sorry…uhh...” He seemed to be fumbling for an excuse as to why he hadn’t noticed her but came up empty.

She opted to ease the burden of explanation, offering a smile, “Enjoying the evening stars?”

“Ah-... yeah. I guess so.” Luffy looked back out at the dark sea and the clear sky of milky starlight cascading down to meet it. “It  _ is _ nice out tonight.”

“Mmm.” Robin hummed softly.

They stood together in comfortable silence for a long moment.

Eventually, Luffy slowly picked up the cup of sake but didn’t move to drink it. Instead, he held the little cup between his fingers and stared down into the sake, expressionless.

“Is it any good?” Robin prompted, knowing well he hadn’t taken even a sip.

“Mm.” He offered quietly, “It’s the same brand as what Sabo, Ace, and I drank when we became brothers.” His voice was slightly hoarse. “Ace stole it for us.”

Now Luffy’s request of Sanji made perfect sense.

It had been just over two years since Ace’s death. Barely any time at all when it came to grief and loss on the scale Luffy was experiencing. It had been twenty-two years since Ohara and she  _ still _ had nights like this.

“We had it out of bowls, though. Not cups.” He continued, though he didn’t seem to be going any particular direction with his words. “They were red.”

He kept looking into the sake cup, clearly remembering something precious and sad. Robin wondered how often she did similar things: lingering on a word in a book for far too long, clinging to small details unimportant to everyone else except her. Did the feelings hit Luffy without warning the same way as her? When he disappeared from the sight of the crew, how often was it to find a moment alone because the weight of  _ absence _ suddenly became stifling? Some nights, she couldn’t keep from permitting a few silent tears as she laid awake in bed. She wondered if he did the same.

After a long moment, Luffy tossed back the sake, swallowing it in one gulp, and held the cup so tightly in his hand Robin thought it might shatter. She wondered how long it had been since he’d had that type of sake- If this was the first time since his brothers were alive. For a few seconds, Luffy’s expression was unreadable. But it quickly became clear he was holding back tears.

“R-Robin, will it ever hurt less?” He choked around the words.

“No.” She said softly, unwilling to lie to her Captain, “But it will eventually hurt  _ differently. _ ” She moved closer to him and hooked her arm around his, slipping her hand into his. “Every day, when you open your eyes, his loss will be the first thing you think of. It will be that way for a long, long time.” Luffy was still trying to hold back, but Robin could tell he was breaking. She squeezed his hand. “But one day, eventually, you’ll open your eyes and it’ll be the  _ second _ thing you think of, instead. And you will be okay.”

Luffy sniffed, leaned his head into Robin’s shoulder, and coughed out a sob. “It’s so  _ heavy. _ ” He whispered hoarsely into her shoulder.

  
“Yes, it is,” She squeezed his hand again and leaned her head onto his, “and it will never get lighter. But  _ you _ will get stronger, and  _ we  _ will help you carry it.”


End file.
